NEW YORK – The New York Racing Association Reorganization Board
lived up to its name Friday, agreeing to apply for a shorter racing
schedule at Aqueduct for the winter while accepting the resignation of
current NYRA president Ellen McClain and announcing the formation of a
committee to select her replacement.
All of this as well as some lively debate between board members Bobby Flay and Rick Violette regarding the quality of racing at Aqueduct took place during a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the NYRA board Friday afternoon in midtown Manhattan.
With a shortage of horses from which to pull from – field size is down to 6.9 horses per race from 7.9 last winter – and the publicity over five fatal breakdowns in the first 25 days of Aqueduct’s inner-track meeting, the NYRA board agreed to authorize a four-day race week to replace its current five-day week. It was unclear when the four-day week would begin, but it is likely to start the first week of February.
“We’re putting safety ahead of finance,” said NYRA board member Anthony Bonomo, who chairs the board’s safety committee, which proposed the change.
In order to go to a shorter week, NYRA has to get current legislation changed that requires it to schedule 95 cards from Dec. 1 through May 1. This year, there were 97 cards scheduled during that time period.
P.J. Campo, NYRA’s racing secretary, welcomed the flexibility to go to four days a week, citing the fact there are only 1,700 horses stabled between Aqueduct and Belmont. Further, he said that shippers from the Mid-Atlantic region to New York are down 75 percent since NYRA implemented new medication rules, especially tougher restrictions regarding the administration of clenbuterol.
“I think it’s the right decision, I think four days is adequate,” said Campo, noting that tracks such as Santa Anita, Laurel, and Parx run four days a week, while Turfway Park and Penn National run three days a week.
Campo said by going to four days a week it will not be necessary to reduce the number of races run per day from nine. In fact, Campo said Aqueduct would start running 10 races each Saturday with the Feb. 2 card.
Campo said he would sit down with McClain and Rick Violette, the head of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, to discuss the schedule.
Though McClain announced her resignation as NYRA president and COO at the meeting, she will stay on until the end of March or April to assist in the transition.
NYRA chair David Skorton, who thanked McClain for her service, formally announced a search committee to find a new president and CEO for NYRA. NYRA has been without a president since Charles Hayward was fired in May after it was learned that NYRA was overcharging its bettors by 1 percent in takeout for certain wagers.
Skorton will chair a committee that includes members Bobby Flay, Jane Rosenthal, Stuart Janney, and Earl Mack.
Skorton would not identify a timetable for when a new president and CEO would be hired, but said that some work has already been done, “including categories of people that should be looked at.”
Speaking of Hayward, it was revealed at the board meeting that he is owed $460,000 in compensation and $144,000 in attorney’s fees. At the meeting, however, NYRA agreed not to pay that money until a report of the takeout issue from the state’s Inspector General is released. It was also announced that Pat Kehoe, NYRA’s counsel who was fired in May, is due $413,000 in severance as well as $55,800 in attorney’s fees. His payment was also deferred.
Though NYRA will have a shorter race week, talk about replacing the inner track with a synthetic surface barely got off the ground.
“We decided not to pursue, at least right now, changing the surface on the inner track at Aqueduct,” Skorton said after the meeting. “That shows that this board is responsive to input including from the media and from the public.”
The board also has members who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.
Flay, the celebrity chef and a Thoroughbred owner, citing the poor quality of racing at Aqueduct in the winter, said, “If it was up to me we wouldn’t race in the winter at Aqueduct.”
That met with consternation from Violette, who is not a voting board member, and Barry Ostrager, a New York breeder and owner.
“Even you realize not everybody can eat steak and lobster year-round – you got 11 hamburger joints,” Violette said. “We are not in the trash heap. We have a good product that we need to move forward.”
Said Ostrager: “Get away from the sound bites and be a little practical.”
Later in the meeting, Flay said that he feels his role on the board is coming up with ideas to improve the ontrack racing experience for customers.
“If you guys don’t want to do that, you don’t need me here,” Flay said. “I’m here to help create the experience, the experience I know people want. It’s infectious. When I take people to racetrack they’re hooked.”
Flay also mentioned the possibility of putting high-end restaurants as well as retail shops at Belmont Park, akin to those in place at Gulfstream Park in south Florida.
NYRA does plan on enhancing its product for all of its customers by announcing it will be purchasing 13 high-definition cameras.
NYRA’s budget also includes putting in Trakus at its three tracks later this year.
All of this as well as some lively debate between board members Bobby Flay and Rick Violette regarding the quality of racing at Aqueduct took place during a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the NYRA board Friday afternoon in midtown Manhattan.
With a shortage of horses from which to pull from – field size is down to 6.9 horses per race from 7.9 last winter – and the publicity over five fatal breakdowns in the first 25 days of Aqueduct’s inner-track meeting, the NYRA board agreed to authorize a four-day race week to replace its current five-day week. It was unclear when the four-day week would begin, but it is likely to start the first week of February.
“We’re putting safety ahead of finance,” said NYRA board member Anthony Bonomo, who chairs the board’s safety committee, which proposed the change.
In order to go to a shorter week, NYRA has to get current legislation changed that requires it to schedule 95 cards from Dec. 1 through May 1. This year, there were 97 cards scheduled during that time period.
P.J. Campo, NYRA’s racing secretary, welcomed the flexibility to go to four days a week, citing the fact there are only 1,700 horses stabled between Aqueduct and Belmont. Further, he said that shippers from the Mid-Atlantic region to New York are down 75 percent since NYRA implemented new medication rules, especially tougher restrictions regarding the administration of clenbuterol.
“I think it’s the right decision, I think four days is adequate,” said Campo, noting that tracks such as Santa Anita, Laurel, and Parx run four days a week, while Turfway Park and Penn National run three days a week.
Campo said by going to four days a week it will not be necessary to reduce the number of races run per day from nine. In fact, Campo said Aqueduct would start running 10 races each Saturday with the Feb. 2 card.
Campo said he would sit down with McClain and Rick Violette, the head of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, to discuss the schedule.
Though McClain announced her resignation as NYRA president and COO at the meeting, she will stay on until the end of March or April to assist in the transition.
NYRA chair David Skorton, who thanked McClain for her service, formally announced a search committee to find a new president and CEO for NYRA. NYRA has been without a president since Charles Hayward was fired in May after it was learned that NYRA was overcharging its bettors by 1 percent in takeout for certain wagers.
Skorton will chair a committee that includes members Bobby Flay, Jane Rosenthal, Stuart Janney, and Earl Mack.
Skorton would not identify a timetable for when a new president and CEO would be hired, but said that some work has already been done, “including categories of people that should be looked at.”
Speaking of Hayward, it was revealed at the board meeting that he is owed $460,000 in compensation and $144,000 in attorney’s fees. At the meeting, however, NYRA agreed not to pay that money until a report of the takeout issue from the state’s Inspector General is released. It was also announced that Pat Kehoe, NYRA’s counsel who was fired in May, is due $413,000 in severance as well as $55,800 in attorney’s fees. His payment was also deferred.
Though NYRA will have a shorter race week, talk about replacing the inner track with a synthetic surface barely got off the ground.
“We decided not to pursue, at least right now, changing the surface on the inner track at Aqueduct,” Skorton said after the meeting. “That shows that this board is responsive to input including from the media and from the public.”
The board also has members who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.
Flay, the celebrity chef and a Thoroughbred owner, citing the poor quality of racing at Aqueduct in the winter, said, “If it was up to me we wouldn’t race in the winter at Aqueduct.”
That met with consternation from Violette, who is not a voting board member, and Barry Ostrager, a New York breeder and owner.
“Even you realize not everybody can eat steak and lobster year-round – you got 11 hamburger joints,” Violette said. “We are not in the trash heap. We have a good product that we need to move forward.”
Said Ostrager: “Get away from the sound bites and be a little practical.”
Later in the meeting, Flay said that he feels his role on the board is coming up with ideas to improve the ontrack racing experience for customers.
“If you guys don’t want to do that, you don’t need me here,” Flay said. “I’m here to help create the experience, the experience I know people want. It’s infectious. When I take people to racetrack they’re hooked.”
Flay also mentioned the possibility of putting high-end restaurants as well as retail shops at Belmont Park, akin to those in place at Gulfstream Park in south Florida.
NYRA does plan on enhancing its product for all of its customers by announcing it will be purchasing 13 high-definition cameras.
NYRA’s budget also includes putting in Trakus at its three tracks later this year.
russell4 hours ago
Nice
to see the DRF censoring free speech. This is the 2nd time my comments
were deleted when I stated some of the status quo on NYRA's board are
part of the problem and past failures. Mack, Janney, Ostrager, and
Violette have their own self interests at heart and not the bettors. i
applaud Flay for speaking up and Aqueduct should close for January and
February. And Hayward and his cronies should get no more compensation.
Put Repole on the Board. He was a race fan well before he struck it rich
and is a local guy.
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Nathan5 hours ago
why
is mike repole not on the board? he's the real deal. gambling supports
racing, not the other way around. flay is a nice guy, but all he does is
write the cheques. repole is head and shoulders the best qualified
person in north america to sit on the board.
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Nick Gunritz5 hours ago
Im glad theyre installing Trakus and HD cameras
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Kurt K5 hours ago
The composition of the board offers a somewhat well rounded model with one glaring omission - which I will get to in a minute.
Mr. Violette for example brings years of experience as a horseman, Mr. Flay brings to the table (pun intended) his experience as an owner, his experience with others in his income class, and his years as successful restaurant owner. You each have your own "wheelhouses" and can add your background to the success of the new NYRA. The glaring omission? None of you are average CUSTOMERS. The board is completely devoid of a voice from the fan's point of view. No council made of longtime racing fans to add their suggestions. Not even one person to convey to you how things look from the customer's point of view. I'll make an analogy we can all understand- on television there are several shows about restaurants in financial trouble. Inevitably, the show eventually interviews patrons who tell how bad the food really is- too salty, flavorless, overcooked, whatever. And the host finally gets it through the rock-headed owner that his product is not what he thinks it is and that this is why his business is not flourishing. Often times the host uses a number of methods to get the owner to see why they are failing- listening to their customers, listening to their employees and here's the metaphor- eating their own food. You see none of you have the ability to "eat your own food ' here. You are not everyday patrons. How many of you actually sit in the grandstand? How many of you picnic near the paddock at Saratoga- with poor 25 year old TVs and no sound? How many of you actually go into the hundred degree bathrooms there with one stupid fan, no AC and 30 people in line? How many of you wait in-line at ATM's that seem to never work? Year after year after year we have the same issues yet no one listens. As customers, WE have the ideas of how to increase attendance and enhance the experience. WE sit in the picnic areas, the grandstands, the OTB parlors, watch from our homes and stand at the rail. And WE are the most important part of the game- for without customers, there is no need for anyone else. Yet we have no representation on the board. The business is shrinking because for years you have ignored us. Yet you don't get it- because you are not eating what you feed your customers. Never mind telling us you are going to have meetings (rarely) with patrons invited to make suggestions. It is obvious that those meetings will take place far too infrequently and long after you have made important decisions and spent any of the money that should go to fix the issues that need to be fixed first. I submit to the board and Mr. Cuomo that each of the tracks should have a committee composed of long time patrons. Perhaps 10 people per committee. Hear our suggestions- then make your decisions. Listen to your customers-we'll tell you what marketing efforts we think would work and how we can grow the game. I would like to submit my name to be on the committee for Saratoga. Where do I sign up?
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MordicaiR6 hours ago
They
should make the sream available online for free. You want people to
bet then you hide the product. Problem with industry in general only
keenland and monmouth stream from website but few others. Get the
product on tv have betting machines in bars more exciting than
powerball.
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Kurt K7 hours ago
Trakus-NO!
I do not need a gimmick to watch a race. Horses have saddle cloths and
Jockeys wear silks -and they are different colors for a reason - to
differentiate between runners...unless you count the racing events when
we make all the saddle cloths pink. Great idea for the Breast Cancer
awareness day- but having all the entrants wearing pink saddle cloths is
overboard and irritating.
NYRA tracks currently have the best screen views AS THEY ARE. They have no silly graphics= Number, Name and Odds of the first four positions. If your horse is out of the picture, he is currently not in the first four- you don't need a chicklet to tell you he is not vying for the lead or tracking a few lengths off the pace. When he comes into the picture, you will see his cloth, number or silks. The camera crews at NYRA do a fine job, as do the race callers. This board need to learn to leave what works alone- concentrate on the many issues that need to be resolved/ fixed / changed first.
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Rosie7 hours ago
there's
so much that can and should be done-how about a jersey/new york race
day like the sunshine millions races use to be,,,and some LONGER
races,,2 and 3 turns...
personally i hate sprint after sprint after sprint
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Robin Cardoza7 hours ago
NYRA
needs to use their money and upgrade their facilities and backstretch
now! Try hiring people that actually enjoy racing working at the track.
How about BETTER customer service? For instance hiring people who
actually know where the Stakes rooms are...or the bathrooms! What about
taking care of the owners a little better? Not to mention the
handicappers who keep things going? I'm happy to see MCClain go, she
will do better in an organization that she is passionate about. I'd
clean house further down the line so NYRA could succeed and not be at
the mercy of the state and its politicians! Flay has good intentions but
saying there shouldn't be winter racing at Aqueduct was foolish. There
are nice horses running in NY in the winter and to say otherwise is
foolish. Gulfstream has 6.5k claimers on weekends so he's wrong in that
department. Finally installing HD cameras is a step in the right
direction. Now I don't have to explain to people that yes this race is
live when they say it looks like its from the 70's on tv!
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Roy Sankar11 hours ago
about time they got hd cameras ...lkol 5 years behind the rest ..but the trackus ...thats not needed
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1 reply
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